I Walk for Cake

     Yesterday, I finished this book:

     Which I LOVED (thanks, E!) but when I was done, all I could think about was cake. This book, which has awesome recipes and a personal essay attached to each one about where Molly either first had or perfected the recipe that follows is a fantastic ode to cooking/baking and living life with no fear of food. It's beautiful! Reading it, all you want to do is EAT. A lot of her recipes are vegetarian, and they all sound delicious. Anyway, all I could think about was her French-Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon. So I made it. Oh, dear is it good. It's pretty easy and tastes like Spring (it's also the recipe that brought her husband to her, through her blog, Orangette. So sweet.)

    Anyway, the cake. It looks like this:

     It may not look like much, but it is yummy. Don't mind the piece missing, it had to be done. In order to make up for my cake craving, Shannon and I went for a 4.5 mile walk. I never realized that the path around the river went on forever. The city looks beautiful as you get farther away, but I only had the camera on my phone and that only does well close up. I'll bring the other camera and get some good pictures on our next walk.

    Moral of story: Walking made up for the cake. Not true, but I can pretend.

French-Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon

Recipe from Orangette

For The Cake

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1/2 cup well-stirred plain whole-milk yogurt (not low fat or nonfat)
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

For The Syrup

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

For The Icing

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan with butter or cooking spray. Line with parchment paper and grease that as well.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add the lemon zest and mix thoroughly.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, and eggs, stirring to mix well. Add the flour mixture and stir to just combine. Add the oil and stir well, until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. 

5. Cool the cake for 15 minutes in the pan. Run a knife around the edge and invert onto a plate or baking sheet. Flip it again so the domed side is on top.

6. In a small bowl, whisk together syrup ingredients. Spoon syrup over warm cake. Cool completely.

7. In a small bowl, combine the icing ingredients. Whisk until sugar is completely dissolved. Spoon the icing over the cooled cake. Serve immediately.

Note: While I love lemon, with both of these glazes the lemon flavor is seriously strong. It is delicious as is, but next time I make it, I may replace the lemon juice in the icing with milk and make a thicker icing with a little less lemon flavor. The syrup adds enough of it.

Happy Spring!